Roach said he was afraid that he will lose one of his pupils if Pacquiao decides to take on the “Siberian Rocky.”

“The thing is Ruslan was offered the fight and I didn’t want to lose one of my champions,” said the trainer in Boxing Scene. “”But obviously I would in that situation. But finally the Bradley fight came through.”

Roach said he would be sticking it out with Pacquiao if Provodnikov got the fight.

“If we would’ve fought Ruslan he would’ve had to get a new trainer, a whole new program and so forth,” he said. “So it was really hard to make that fight and [Pacquiao and Provodnikov] are friends.”

Initially, Provodnikov wasn't warm about the idea of facing Pacquiao but the Russian later admitted that the bout could turn out to be his biggest break.

“While on vacation in the resort, I think carefully about the situation. And I decided that if fate gives me a chance then you need to use it. Refuse to fight with great boxer stupid,” Provodnikov said in East Side Boxing.